


Whelping

by snack_size



Series: Dog Parenting [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Chuck Lives AU, Flirting, Fluff, Gen, Granddogs, M/M, Max Gets a Girlfriend, Puppies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-08
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 20:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/917500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snack_size/pseuds/snack_size
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck lives, and Max gets a girlfriend when a lady bulldog arrives at the Shatterdome. </p><p>Herc gets some granddogs, and Chuck doesn't realize he's been dating Raleigh for awhile.</p><p>Completely, purely unadulterated fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whelping

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't resist. Image of Max's puppies when Newt comes to get his primarily based on [this.](http://media.tumblr.com/51efa60cfc0b580383725605952cc6c0/tumblr_inline_mqz03hpU8n1qz4rgp.jpg)
> 
> This work has been translated into Chinese by the lovely momokokaren [ here at mtmslash](http://www.mtslash.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=95426).

Chuck wasn’t sure when the other bulldog arrived. He ran into her in the corridor one day and did a double take. Then he saw the pink collar and he looked up to see her owner. Her person. “Nice dog,” he said. It was one of the English engineers who’d been brought in to work on further applications of the Jaeger technology.   
  
“Yeah,” she said. “My family’s had them for ages. I love them, they’re such sweethearts - well, you know that...Molly Harper,” she added, holding out a hand. “Er, Dr. Molly Harper.”  
  
“Chuck Hansen,” he said, and she nodded her head and gave him an appreciative look. “What’s her name?” He leaned down and pet the dog on the head.   
  
“Winnie,” she replied. “Not terribly original, my mum, but what can you do?”   
  
“What a good girl you are,” Chuck said, and he scrunched her ears in his hands. “Aren’t you a pretty girl?” Winnie wagged her tail with the same enthusiasm as Max. “Uh, nice to meet you,” he said, standing.  
  
“Like wise, really,” said Molly. Dr. Harper. “Actually, it’s an honor.” Chuck reddened - he hated this kind of attention. Strange, because he had lapped it up before Operation Pitfall. “Anyway, see you around.”  
  


* * *

  
“I met Max’s girlfriend today,” Raleigh said when he sat down next to him for lunch. Max immediately jumped up and pawed him for a treat, and Raleigh broke a carrot stick in half and gave it to him.   
  
“Max doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Chuck replied.   
  
“What, she’s not good enough for him?” Raleigh asked.   
  
“What are you on?” Chuck asked.  
  
“I would think it would be the other way around, given she’s a proper English bulldog lady and he’s some standard Aussie brawler-”   
  
“What did you say about my dog?” Chuck asked, and he narrowed his eyes at Max, who was thumping his tail and demanding cuddles from Raleigh despite what he had just said about him.  
  
“Well, he’s rough and tumble, right?” Raleigh grinned and then did one of the worst approximations of an Australian accent Chuck had ever heard. “Wrestle a croc, throw some meat on the barby-”  
  
“Fucking hell, Becket,” Chuck said. “He’s not Mick Dundee.” Raleigh shrugged.   
  
“She’s cute,” he said, petting the wrinkled skin behind Max’s neck. “Well played.” Max grinned at him.  
  


* * *

  
“Hansen.” Chuck looked up to see Dr. Harper staring at him, brow furrowed, both hands planted on the mess table in front of him. Raleigh slid down a bit and grinned at Dr. Harper.  
  
“Yeah, what?” he asked. He couldn’t figure out how he’d interfered with her engineering trials, given that he was barely around that part of the Shatterdome-  
  
“Congrats,” she said, and reached into her pocket and shoved a grainy black and white picture at him. “You’re going to be a daddy.”   
  
“What?” he asked, and sort of sputtered - this was new, and he was fairly certain that he hadn’t- “You’re having puppies?” he asked, squinting at the picture. Raleigh laughed.  
  
She rolled her eyes at him. “Your...dog,” she said, “knocked up my dog.”   
  
“Didn’t you neuter him?” Raleigh asked.  
  
Chuck immediately grabbed at Max, who was sitting between them. “You think I was gonna let dad cut my dog’s balls off?”   
  
“Well-” Raleigh began.   
  
“Besides, takes two to tango,” Chuck said. “You’re bitch wasn’t taken care of, either?”   
  
“No, but I can't imagine-” Dr. Harper began.  
  
“Uh-oh, no way,” Chuck interrupted. “I’m sure Max was a perfect gentlemen.” Raleigh held his hand in front of Max, and Max put his paw into it like he was giving him a high five. “When were you teaching him tricks?”  
  
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Raleigh asked.  
  
“Look,” said Dr. Harper. “I have to go back to England in a few months and they’re not going to let me bring four puppies with me. So they’re yours.”  
  
“You can’t just-” Chuck began. She levelled her gaze at him, and then at Max. She looked like she was thinking about cutting both their balls off. “Fine,” he said, throwing up his hands. “Fine.”   
  


* * *

 

“Might as well enjoy it,” Raleigh said, carefully coloring in the card they’d printed out. Chuck nodded.   
  
They tied it to Max’s collar, and then let him waddle off. 

“Go find Herc, buddy,” Chuck said. “Go and get grandpa.”   
  
“Fifteen minutes,” Raleigh said, shoving the crayons aside and cracking open a beer.  
  
“Twenty,” said Chuck. “Max isn’t the fastest critter.” He opened his own beer and nodded at Raleigh.

Raleigh ended up winning - Herc shoved the door open to Chuck’s room, crumpled  _Congrats, you’re gonna be a grandpa!_  card in his hand. His lip was curled. “How many times I tell you about taking precautions, Chuck, and now you go and get some girl-”  
  
Raleigh couldn’t handle it, he immediately burst out laughing and spilled some beer on himself. Chuck started laughing as well, and Herc’s eyes narrowed as he considered the two of them, seated on Chuck’s bed together, shoulders touching as they laughed.  
  
“Max was the one with the news,” Chuck finally said when he sat up.  
  
“Oi,” Herc said, and he beamed at Max, who had flopped between Raleigh and Chuck. Then the glare returned for a moment as he considered Chuck again. “Told you we needed to get him fixed.” He shook his head, then went over to Max. “Did you put it to that snotty pom? Look at you, little man, I knew you had it in you...” He kissed Max on the head. "Gonna have some wee little sprogs, yeah?" 

“Told you,” Raleigh said.  
  
Chuck sighed. “Harper says we have to keep the puppies, ‘cause she’s only here on a limited engagement.” He pulled the sonogram out of his pocket. “Here - look at your granddogs.”   
  
Herc furrowed his brow. “None of that grandpa shit.”   
  
“Whatever, old man,” Chuck said.  
  
“Four of ‘em? We’re gonna have to find them good homes.” Chuck opened his mouth, but Herc cut him off. “We are not keeping them.” Chuck took a different tact, heading left, and he pouted slightly and widened his eyes -  _dad, look at how cute and wrinkly he is! He’s the last one left, dad!_  “We’re not going to keep all of them.”   
  
“You should make an application,” Raleigh said.   
  


* * *

  
Chuck was never going to get a woman pregnant, and if he did, he was definitely going to be in the next room watching the rugby when she delivered.  
  


* * *

  
“You alright, there?” Raleigh asked. “You kinda bonked your head on the way down.”  
  
“They just...slid out,” Chuck said. “All...gooey.”   
  
“Yup,” Raleigh said, and he was beaming. “Life is miraculous, isn’t it, the way that-”  
  
“You start singing the fucking Lion King and I’m gonna give  _you_  a concussion,” Chuck said. Raleigh’s face turned serious, and he nodded.  
  


* * *

  
Chuck found Herc in his room with his reading glasses on, reviewing the applications Raleigh had made. “Hows it going?” he asked.  
  
“Dunno,” said Herc. “I wish Mako had applied, but she doesn’t think she’s ready for the responsibility right now. Raleigh thinks I should give one to Newt, but I’m not sure.”   
  
“You could give him the runty one,” Chuck said.   
  
“Oi, she all done?” Herc asked, immediately brightening. He set his reading glasses down and Chuck nodded.  
  
“Aw, look at the wee sprogs,” Herc said when he entered the birthing room. Mako smiled and pet Winnie’s head - she'd been a perfect assistant.  
  
“You did very well,” Mako said to her. Dr. Harper smiled, seated at a table with the veterinarian they had found to supervise the labor.   
  
“Sprogs, grandpa,” Chuck said. “Grandpa, granddogs.”  
  
“They are not my bleeding-”  
  
“More like great-granddogs, really,” Raleigh said. Herc shot him a deadly look, the kind of look that let you know he knew twenty different ways to kill you with his bare hands. Raleigh nodded. 

* * *

Max was largely amused by his puppies, and Chuck got the sense he wasn’t entirely sure that he had made them himself - more like four little friends had just shown up one day to hang out with him.   
  
“That one’s gonna be yours,” Chuck said, pointing out the runty one - Boy Dog Two - to Newt. He was upside on the ground next to his bed, seeming to drown in his wrinkles. He had fallen out over a minute ago and appeared to have no intention of correcting his position.  
  
“Oh, gosh, can I pick him up?” Newt asked, and Chuck nodded. “Hey, baby dog,” Newt said - and really, what was Herc thinking, Newt wasn’t a good candidate? With Hermann busy with his baby, he needed something for himself.“We are gonna have so many adventures, you and me. Aw, you’re gonna be my little wrinkle monster, aren’t you? Category V adorable!” Mako smiled at Chuck - she hadn’t really left the puppies side. Chuck figured she was going to wind up with one by default.   
  
“You think of a name?” Raleigh asked. He picked up the other puppy that had fallen out of the bed and stuck it back in with its two sisters.   
  
“Gimli,” said Newt.  
  
“What?” Chuck said.  
  
“Well, bulldogs are kind of like dwarves, right, they’re short and stout and-”  
  
“Lord of the Rings,” said Raleigh. “You’ve seen it?”  
  
“No, Rah-leigh, we talked about this, I had a lot better things to do-”   
  
“Gimli heads towards the shore, unaware that the PPDC Ranger Raleigh Becket is at ready-” Newt began, waving the puppy towards Raleigh and moving the puppies stumpy wrinkled arms to look menacing.   
  
“Put the damn thing down before you drop it,” Chuck said. “Jesus.”   
  


* * *

  
“How are you gonna pick which one to keep?” Raleigh asked. Chuck had the remaining boy dog - Boy Dog One - in his lap, while Raleigh had one of the girl dogs in his lap. Raleigh was making her dance, holding onto and waving her little legs as he stood her upright. “You gonna put them through their motions? Figure out which one is the best?”   
  
“What, like make them fight it out in the kwoon?” Chuck asked. “And what are you doing to that damn puppy?”   
  
“We’re dancing,” Raleigh said, and he swayed along with the dog.  
  
“Why don’t you take one?” Chuck asked.  
  
“Naw, I’m good,” Raleigh said, and smiled at him.   
  


* * *

  
Despite Herc’s objections, Tendo got Girl Dog Two. “I think he just wants the dog to help him pick up women,” Herc said.  
  
“No granddog of yours is gonna be a harlot, right?” Chuck asked, and then ducked his head as Herc moved to hit him.  
  


* * *

  
Boy Dog One went to one of Striker’s techs, who had two girls who would love him to pieces.   
  
“Guess that leaves you with me, Girl Dog One,” Chuck said. “Probably better this way, though, you’ll have dad and grandpa and Raleigh-” Chuck stopped and looked at the puppy, who was attempting to look at him, except her skin still sort of drooped in her face. “Er, me and dad and grandpa to play with.” Chuck said.   
  
Fuckity fucking fuck, he thought, and scooped the puppy up.  
  
He dropped it in Raleigh’s lap. Raleigh was watching some movie. “What, so now you’re tossing puppies at me?” he asked.   
  
“Might as well name it,” Chuck said, and crossed his arms.   
  
Raleigh cocked his head. Chuck sighed and sat down on the bed next to him.   
  
“I was thinking Daisy.”  
  
“That’s a terrible name for a dog,” Chuck said. “Look at her - she’s tough, she’s from fucking Striker Eureka stock.” He poked Girl Dog One gently, and she yawned. 

“Harley,” Raleigh said.  
  
Chuck considered it. Max and Harley. Harles. “Yeah, all right,” he said. “You like it?” he asked, leaning in to the puppy's face. She initially had her head on Raleigh’s leg, but she had slid deep into his lap. So Chuck was basically staring at Raleigh’s-   
  
He looked up. Raleigh grinned at him. “Yeah, well, fuck you, Raleigh,” he said, and then leaned in and kissed him. Chuck was surprised - Raleigh’s kiss was tender, deep, and he put a hand on the back of Chuck’s neck and gently grabbed his hair.   
  
“Christ, you two, not in front of my granddog!” Herc shouted from the door. Raleigh and Chuck separated, and Herc reached down and quickly plucked Harley from Raleigh’s lap. “Honestly, she’s not even ten weeks yet and you’re exposing her too...” He shook his head.   
  
“Eh,” said Raleigh, as Herc slammed the door shut. “Puppy was kind of a cock block. Well, literally.” Raleigh leaned back and laughed, mouth open. Chuck took the opportunity to sort of tackle him and pin him down to the bed.


End file.
